May 7, 2022
USL Championship League Match
ONEOK Field, Tulsa, OK

Diamonds are not footballers best friends

Introduction

This website has been the Unofficial Detroit City FC Digital History, chronicling the history of Detroit City FC through the matches I have attended with the images and video I have captured along with a commentary on the match.

Detroit City FC has become a 2nd tier professional team, which has made travel to most away matches impossible for me.  This achievement by the club merits that I include the match summaries of those I did not personally attend so that the website is a more complete, though unofficial, history of the club.  Enjoy.

The Match

After the founding of the club on December 18, 2013, which was to play in the USL 3rd Division, it was announced on February 26, 2014 that the team would be known as Tulsa Roughnecks FC by fan voting.  It was a call back to the original Roughnecks which played in the original North American Soccer League from 1978 until the league folded in 1984.  The Roughnecks had won the NASL Soccer Bowl in 1983.

Two seasons later, the club moved to the USL 2nd Division/USL Championship.  After the ownership of the team changed in 2019, it became known as FC Tulsa.  They have made the playoffs three times in their seven year history, last year being their most recent visit, but was eliminated in the first round by the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

In Oklahoma, Le Rouge had a different look.  Defender Karl Ouimette joined the team on May 2nd for a season-long loan from Indy Eleven.  Karl is a Canadian national, having earned 18 caps for the Canadian National Team.  He played three seasons with the Montreal Impact (MLS), then two seasons with the New York Red Bulls (MLS).  In 2017, he played in the NASL for the San Francisco Deltas where he made 23 appearances and won the Soccer Bowl by a 2-nil score over the New York Cosmos.  Since then, he has spent four seasons and the first month of this year with Indy Eleven.

Missing from the line up were Pato Botello Faz, Maxi Rodriguez, and Antoine Hoppenot.

FC TULSA
Starting XI

Sean Lewis – GK
Jorge Corrales – D
Matheus Silva – D
Adria Diz Pe – D
Ronald Rodriguez – D
Rodrigo da Costa – M
Petar Cuic – M
Eric Bird – M
Lebo Moloto – M
Joaquin Rivas – M
JJ Williams – F

DETROIT CITY FC
Starting XI

Nate Steinwascher – GK
Matt Lewis – D
Stephen Carroll – D
Devon Amoo-Mensah – D
Rhys Williams – D
Deklan Wynne – D
Connor Rutz – M
Abdoulaye Diop – M
Michael Bryant – F
Francis Atuahene – F
Billy Forbes – F

The head referee was Brandon Stevis.  He has been the head referee in 36 previous matches in the USL Championship dating back to 2018.  He’s handed out 118 yellow cards, including 9 on April 9, 2022 in the match between San Diego Loyal and Charleston Battery.  He’s also shown 4 red cards in the USL.  Stevis officiated his first US Open Cup match on April 19, 2022 between the Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) and San Diego Loyal (USL-Championship), and has officiated one NWSL and NWSL Challenge Cup match.  His assistants were Kevin Lock and Shane Kennard.

ONEOK Field is a baseball stadium, home to the Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League, and from the television view, the infield looked horrible to have to play on, evident on the first goal scored by FC Tulsa in the 15th minute.  The keeper, Sean Lewis, sent a long kick beyond a City and Tulsa players’ heads and on to Joaquin Rivas.  Rivas made his run in to goal and won some extra space when a City defender stumbled over the seam between the infield dirt and grass.  This allowed Rivas to tee it up and fire it on goal, zipping past Nate’s dive to the left.

Six minutes later, Rodrigo da Costa was on the end of a three-way passing play, again on the gritty infield dirt, poking a shot past Nate to double their lead.

City got one back when, in the 36th minute, Deklan Wynne delivered a corner kick into the box.  Coming in on the near post, Matt Lewis got a head to it, deflecting it into open space.  Michael Bryant stepped up and drilled a right-footed shot that found its way between all the Tulsa defenders and City players, into the back of the goal.

Down 2-1 at the half, Trevor James made some changes.  Newcomers Karl Ouimette and Macky Diop started the second half in place of Rhys Williams and Billy Forbes.  Bosh Tanyi entered the match at the 68th minute when Matt Lewis had to come off due to injury.

But Tulsa sealed the victory with Joaquin Rivas’ second goal of the match in the 78th minute.  Jorge Corrales ran the ball down the left channel then crossed it into the box.  Brian Brown, who was a 69th minute substitute for Lebo Moloto, headed it up in the air.  It returned to Earth for Rivas to fire a meteoric shot past Nate.

Benedek Tanyi, Bosh’s brother, saw his first USL Championship minutes when he came into the match at the 87th minute for Deklan Wynne.

A tough loss for City in a match where it was the first time a team scored more than two goals against a Trevor James coached DCFC. Only against FC Juarez of Liga MX in a friendly on June 10, 2019 had City conceded three goals.

On the plus side, the Women’s Team made their debut in the USL-W league with a 1-1 draw at Keyworth.

STATS

FC Tulsa 3, Detroit City FC 1
Tulsa: Joaquin Rivas (Sean Lewis) 15′
Tulsa: Rodrigo da Costa (JJ Williams) 21′
DCFC: Michael Bryant (Matt Lewis) 36′
Tulsa: Joaquin Rivas 78′

ATTENDANCE:  4,311

Possession: FC Tulsa 58.3%, DCFC 41.7%
Offsides:  FC Tulsa 2, DCFC 1
Corners:  FC Tulsa 2, DCFC 7
Passes:  FC Tulsa 455, DCFC 305
Passing Accuracy: FC Tulsa 77.4%, DCFC 68.2%
Shots:  FC Tulsa 10, DCFC 11
Shots on Target: FC Tulsa 4, DCFC 3
Blocked Shots:  FC Tulsa 3, DCFC 1
Fouls: FC Tulsa 16, DCFC 13
Yellow Cards:  FC Tulsa 2 (Matheus Silva, Adrian Diz Pe), DCFC 1 (Karl Ouimette)
Red Cards:  FC Tulsa 0, DCFC 0

KEEPER KIT RECORD (Both USL Championship and Open Cup)

We only lose in blue?

• Purple Kit:  1 draw
• Yellow Kit: 3 wins, 2 clean sheets
• Blue Kit: 4 wins, 1 draw, 2 loss, 2 clean sheets

IN OTHER USL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES TODAY:

Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1, Birmingham Legion 0
Hartford Athletic 1, Loudoun United FC 0
New Mexico United 1, San Diego Loyal 1
El Paso Locomotive 4, LA Galaxy II 0
Monterey Bay 1, Las Vegas Lights 0
Orange County 2, Oakland Roots 2
Phoenix Rising 3, San Antonio FC 0